The Mercy Mutation
by 1BadWolf1
Summary: Torn between a life without Edward and no life at all, what will she choose?
1. Alien!

A/N: Hey

**A/N: Hey! I guess I don't really have all that much to say except that it's set right after the Volturi leaves. Also, to Jacob lovers, I just want you to know that I don't bash Jacob in this, but he's not alive for very long. (So don't be disappointed.) Anyhow, this story isn't all happy-happy even though the first chapter may make it seem that way. You have been warned! (:**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, ever.**

**P.S. Go Team Edward! Haha… well anyways.**

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I sat down next to Edward near the pile of burning vampires. It was a nasty sight, and I didn't enjoy it, but I needed to cool off, so to speak. I'd seen a lot today.

The wolves and vampires left already. I took in the sight around me. It was terrible. The burning of flesh started to make me feel queasy. Edward recognized this and picked me up from the ground. I hadn't realized he stood up. I was too busy absorbing my surroundings. He tossed me onto his back and we ran away from the meadow that would be burnt into my memories forever.

I figured we were off to the Cullens' house, but instead, we ended up in our meadow. Edward put me down and sat beside me. I lay down on the wet grass, not caring how dirty I was getting. I was dirty as it was. Edward leaned on his side, supported by his elbow and looked at me for a while.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked me gently.

"What?" I was only looking at the clouds…

"Letting Alice plan the wedding? I know what it is. You just want everyone to be happy. The deal's off."

"What?" I shouted, caught off guard.

"I don't need everyone else happy… I don't care about them. I just want you happy. I can't have you satisfying everyone else's wants and denying your own." I processed this information as he began to lean towards me. "Don't worry. I haven't forgotten your demands," he smiled and placed his lips on my own. His kisses were cold and heavy. It took me a while to realize what he meant. When I finally did, I couldn't pull away. I don't know if it was physically or mentally. _Just go for it! It's what you've always wanted!_ My mind was telling me. I started to give in. _No!_ I told myself. I finally got an opportunity to speak when he moved down to my neck.

"No. Stop," I couldn't help but giggle. I began to push him away. As I knew he would, he backed away.

"What's wrong?" He asked with a concerned look crawling on his face.

"I don't want to do this…" My voice trailed off. I knew I did, but I would NOT deny him of his right to be a virgin on our wedding day. I smiled at the thought.

"Awh… but I want you…" he whined. "Don't you dare do… or not do… this because you're concerned about my beliefs."

"It's not your beliefs I'm concerned about. It's mine. If there's any chance you're not condemned to hell already, I'm not going to take that away from you," I said, smiling at his pitiful face. "I'm going to let Alice plan the wedding. I mean why not? And I'm already leaving Charlie… I don't want to deny him the chance to walk down the aisle with his only daughter. It's what _I_ want," I added when I saw the disappointed look on his face.

"Fine," he gave in reluctantly. "What do you want to do now?" I knew what I wanted to do… check up on Jacob… but I didn't want to upset him too much in one day. I would just have to see him when Edward goes hunting tomorrow.

"I don't know. I'm tired," I yawned. It was six in the evening. Once again, he tossed me on his back and took me to his house. I dismissed myself from the Cullen bunch to go and take a shower upstairs. I knew Charlie would ask questions if I came home smelling like battle. I wrapped myself in a towel and looked at myself in the mirror. I tidied up my hair a bit. Alice popped in and scared me half to death.

"You can't possibly think it's a good idea to go home in _that_ can you?" she looked over at the mess of clothes I had worn earlier. She didn't wait for me to answer. "No you can't. I have some clothes for you in my room. Come on!" She pushed my old clothes into a garbage can that was near them beside the counter.

"You just want me to walk around your house naked?" I asked her disbelievingly.

"Of course not, silly… that's what robes are for!" She grinned brightly. "But first… let's exfoliate!" she slabbed some sort of green facial mask on my face. I hadn't even realized she had anything in her hands. I just sighed. She rubbed it all over my face and wrapped me tightly into a robe that had my initials sewn in it. I fashioned a towel around my head and she said, "Now you're ready." I glanced over at myself in the mirror and shuddered. I gave in and we began our human-paced walk down the long hall to the two flights of stairs that would lead us to her room.

As we passed Edward's room, his door opened. I froze, speechless. Edward eyed my body from top to bottom. "I'm guessing this is a bad time, then…" he said slowly.

"Kind of… yes…" I replied. He stifled a laugh.

"Well your father called. Just thought you should know," he said, trying to hide his smile.

"Mmm-hmm," I said impatiently. "What about?" The door at the end of the hallway near the stairs opened and a widely grinning Emmett stepped out. He burst into a loud laughter. The rest of the Cullens were upstairs in a heartbeat at the sound of his thunderous boom.

"What's all the commotion?" Esme asked, looking at Emmett, then at me. "Oh…" My cheeks became a bright red color and I ran into Edward's room. Alice said something quiet and cheerful to the rest of the Cullen family and joined Edward and me in his room. I crossed my arms and looked bitterly from Alice to Edward.

"Well… I'll just go get the clothes and bring them here, instead," she let out a nervous laugh and disappeared from the room. I sat down on his big, black couch. I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. I felt the weight of Edward's arm fall to my shoulder. I looked over at him.

"Are you alright?" he asked me.

"Yeah… No, I was only _slightly_ humiliated," I said sarcastically.

"I think you'd make a fine alien," he said calmly.

"Well let's see how you like it. Prepare to exfoliate!" I dabbed a little of the still-wet face mask off of my face and put it at the tip of his nose. He touched it and pulled back his finger to examine it. He looked back at my face and started laughing. I laughed as well. He leaned over and pressed his cold lips to mine. I pulled away when the door opened. It was Alice, holding various garment bags.

"Geez. Thanks for all your help _Edward_," Alice glared at him. He just sat looking innocently. She placed the boxes on the ground and walked over to him. She reached out a finger and wiped off a bit of green from when we kissed. "Oh, I see how it is." She looked back and forth from me to him. She shook her head in a disappointed manner and shooed Edward out of his room, and the smothering began!

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**A/N: Dun Dun Dunn!! So how'd you like it? There will be much more added later. Thanks for reading. (also, thanks to edwardismybff for pointing out that HTML tags don't work on fanfiction. (: ) –Eve- **


	2. The Mercy Mutation

A/N: Welcome back my peeps

**A/N: Welcome back my peeps!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Ever. (Frowney face.)**

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**Bella's POV **

After about an hour, Alice was finished dressing me and smothering me with various make-up products. It was time to go home and see Charlie.

Edward, Alice, and I climbed into his car and drove home. When we arrived, Alice handed me tons of bags from a few different stores and ushered me towards my front door. Edward remained in the car.

"How was shopping?" Charlie grumbled observing the various bags I had in my hands.

"It was a lot of fun. Bella and I checked out that new store in Port Angeles and it was great," Alice bubbled.

"Mmm-hmm," Charlie said walking towards his usual spot on the couch. "Well that's nice." I walked upstairs and put the loads of new clothes beside my dresser and walked back down to meet Alice. She hugged me tightly, said goodbye, and left. I walked upstairs and plopped on my bed. I was completely exhausted. I fell asleep almost instantly. I awoke the next day to Edward laying a blanket on top of me and tucking it in nicely.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," he said. I lifted the blanket and motioned for him to lie beside me. He nodded and crawled onto my bed. He looked exhausted.

"Have you already been hunting?" I asked him.

"Yeah. We stayed local this time," he replied, yawning. I laid my head on his shoulder and his eyes closed. His breathing slowed. About two minutes later, he was peacefully asleep beside me.

I looked over at my sleeping angel. I rubbed his head and closed my own eyes. I started thinking of the image of Edward sleeping and then shot into an upright position. "Edward?" I looked at him, still asleep. "Edward, honey, you don't sleep." I shook him gently. "Edward… this isn't funny, now open your eyes." I shook him again, this time a bit more violently. I panicked. "Edward. Stop it right this instant!" He was still breathing. I placed my hand on his chest, not even thinking about what I was doing. _Thump-thump. Thump-thump._ I screamed and withdrew my hand. I put my hand back on his chest to make sure I wasn't just imagining it. _Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. _ I looked at him in horror. Luckily, Alice appeared beside me. She must have crawled into the open window when I wasn't paying attention.

She tossed Edward over her shoulder and said, "I brought the car. Meet me there." She jumped out the window. I ran downstairs and crawled into Edward's shiny silver Volvo and examined him in the back seat.

"Why does he have a heartbeat?" I asked her, dumbfounded.

"I don't know. Something's wrong… Everything's wrong…" she got a distant look to her eyes. She was very deep in thought.

We arrived at the Cullens in only a few minutes and met Carlisle at the front door. Alice carried Edward over to one of the couches in their massive living room. Carlisle took out his stethoscope and placed it to Edward's chest. He rolled Edward to his side and listened to his back and his stomach, as well. Carlisle took out his little flashlight and opened one of Edward's eyes to shine it in. The iris of his eye had turned a deep green color. We all gasped.

Rosalie took out a cigarette and placed it in her mouth.

I looked at her curiously, trying to figure out when she had taken up smoking. Everyone was busy taking in the anomaly that was Edward. "What do you think is wrong with him?" I asked Carlisle, but Rosalie answered.

"Homosapacillus," she said and lit her cigarette.

"What's that?" I asked her.

"It _was_ just a legend. Folklore. A story. I never thought for once that it might actually happen." She let out a puff of smoke. She was obviously done speaking. _Thanks Rosalie, for your vivid description._ I was so frustrated about everything.

"Immune systems aren't strong enough to fight our venom. At least that's usually the case. In this situation, I can't be quite so sure. Stories told of the few lucky creatures with a hereditary genetic mutation that would allow for their immune systems to code for a new antibody. One that could save them from the immortality that we can provide. They call it homosapacillus, because of the effect it has on the vampires that consume the blood of the genetic-mutation carriers," he explained. I was still missing some vital piece of information to tie this all together…

"Some of us call it the Mercy Mutation," Rosalie added.

"So what does it do to the vampires that consume it?" I asked.

"The immune system (in the blood, obviously) spreads throughout our poor Edward's body, destroying all that makes him what he is, and therefore his body is turning to it's natural state."

"Humanity," Rosalie spat in a darkly envious voice.

"So he's turning human, then? That's exactly what he wants. To live a _life_. With me!" I added. I was a bit upset that I wouldn't turn into a vampire, but I guess I could make exceptions.

"He doesn't want it this way," Jasper said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"His organs haven't been used in some time and have been weakened with inactivity and age. He's over a hundred years old, and hundred-year-old organs don't last as long as we would hope for," Carlisle said.

"So he's gonna…" I couldn't even finish the sentence. "Bite him! You've done it once, do it again!"

"The Mercy Mutation is still in his blood. It's a part of his immune system now. I'm afraid there's nothing we can do."

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**A/N: O-ho snap! Quite the cliffhanger we have here. Sort of. Well anyways, I have a very busy weekend ahead of me, but I'll try to post another chapter soon. (thanks again edwardismybff)**


	3. A New Life and a Death Sentence

**A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome back. I'm sorry I've not updated in soooo long and I'm afraid the next update will be a while too.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. ):**

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**Bella's POV**

"How long does he have?" I choked. Tears began streaming down my face.

"I can't be sure. This is the first time I've ever seen anyone in this condition. His organs are old, but they were only used for seventeen years of his life. Also, I don't know if time is a problem for his organs, seeing as he doesn't age. I'm not sure if the organs age or deteriorate with time on a vampire."

"Well, what's your estimation," Jasper asked him.

"To guess without any further examination would be a shot in the dark. I'll need to perform a few tests to see how his body is taking the change."

I got closer to Edward and stroked his hair. His eyes opened and in a weak voice said, "Don't be sad Bella, love." He reached his hand out and wiped away my tears. He took in a deep breath. That was necessary, now. He sniffed the air. "Mmm…"

"What?" I asked him.

"I'm delicious," he smiled his crooked smile.

"Delicious?" I looked over at Carlisle.

"Edward appears to still be in a transitional phase. He may still have some of the strength and senses of a vampire for a few hours. Nothing to worry about, I think," Carlisle explained.

"Huh. Alright then," I grinned at Edward.

"It's so quiet in here," Edward stated.

"That may be because you're not hearing our thoughts anymore. Or perhaps your hearing is losing strength," Carlisle told him.

"I suppose you're right. This is great!" Edward shouted. I raised one eyebrow. He blushed. He raised one of his hands to his face and felt the pink on his cheeks. His fingers sank into his skin a bit, the way it should on a cheek of a human. He pressed his cheek repeatedly. "Hmmm. Squishy." We all laughed in a nervous manner. I was glad _he_ was enjoying this. I was a wreck.

Esme came over to me and rubbed my back in an effort to comfort me. She and the rest of the Cullens left the living room after taking one last look at Edward.

Edward sat up and motioned for me to sit on the couch beside him. I sat down and he wrapped his arm around me. "I _don't_ want you worrying about me. This is the happiest I've been in quite some time." I pouted jokingly to imply that he should be perfectly happy around me. "I'm human and I have my arm around the woman I love. I don't think it could get any better." He smiled at me. I couldn't help myself; I smiled back.

The smile faded from my face; a grim look replaced it. "Edward, I don't think you fully appreciate how terrible this situation really is! You could die at any moment and there's nothing I can do to help you!" I shouted. He flinched. I sighed. "I'm so sorry Edward. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"It's okay. I understand your frustration. I, personally, don't think you fully appreciate how wonderful this is!" He got an excited look on his face. "There are so many things I can do that I haven't been able to do for a century! Small things, even. Like the ones _you _take for granted."

"Name three," I said.

"Crying, for example," he said.

"Crying! How could you possibly miss that?" I asked him incredulously.

"When you cry, you can let out your emotions. We, vampires, can't do that. We're forced to bottle up our emotions," he explained.

"I guess I never really thought about it that way. Okay, then. That's one. Two more," I said stubbornly.

"Eating. Humans have such a variety of foods. Vampires only have blood. While it is very satisfying, there are only so many flavors."

"I guess that makes sense. One more." Edward grinned.

"Well, humans are capable of… creating life," he said finally.

"Huh," I said thoughtfully. Then it occurred to me what he was talking about. "Oh! You mean children." I guess I hadn't really thought about whether or not I wanted children with Edward because I always knew it was impossible. "Do _you_ want children, Edward?"

"I don't know. I always thought of it as an impossibility, personally. Do you?" He looked me in the eyes.

"Well, uh… I guess… I don't see why not," I said honestly.

"Do you think you're ready for a child?" He eyed me.

"I suppose," I said. We sat there for a few minutes in a comfortable silence.

"Yes," I said. The thought of having a child was sounding better and better. Edward's eyes darted towards me. He grinned brightly.

"I'm going to be a father," he said thoughtfully.

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**Edward's POV**

"I'm going to be a father," I said. At that moment, Carlisle walked in.

"We'll see about that," Carlisle said. "Now let's get you down to the hospital for some tests." We both stood up.

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"This may feel cold," Carlisle told me. He put his stethoscope to my chest and looked at his watch. After about thirty seconds he nodded and scribbled something on a clipboard. He pressed the stethoscope to my stomach, back, and then back to my chest. He took his otoscope and looked up my nose and in my ears. "You may feel a slight pinch," he said. He took a syringe and poked it into the inside of my elbow.

"Ouch!" I said. I wasn't expecting the amount of pain that came with that small poke. He drew three vials of blood from my arm, injected five different immunizations, and performed an ultrasound.

"How is he, Carlisle?" Bella asked him.

"His organs seem to be in working condition, but they aren't as strong as we'd like them to be." She looked at him in a concerned manner. He'd already told me the news just a few minutes ago. "I'm afraid he only has about ten months with his organs in the condition they are in." Bella started to cry again. I walked over to comfort her.

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Bella sat on my lap with her arms around my neck, her head nestled carefully against my chest. I rubbed my hand back and forth against her back to calm her sobs. "Bella, love, don't be sad."

"How could I not be sad? You're the most important thing to me in the world and I'm losing you!" I kissed the top of her head.

"Do you still want a baby?" I asked her. She was surprised by this abrupt change of conversation. She thought about it for a moment. I guess it was selfish of me to still want a child, even if it meant dying and leaving her with a month old infant. I was going to have to accept that I couldn't burden her with something so huge.

"Yes," she said finally. This lightened her mood a bit. I'm not sure what consumed me, but I pressed myself tightly to her lips. The kiss was soft, but powerful. Bella put her hands on my chest and pushed me away from her. I actually budged. I was weaker than I though. I pulled back when she pushed me.

"Hold up, suckerfish. I still have a few doctors' appointments before I know if I _can_ have a baby." I sighed and smiled.

"Okay, then." I nuzzled my nose against hers. Right now, I felt the most vulnerable I had ever felt. I felt so… so human. It was almost empowering. I could do so many things that I couldn't before.

I felt a strange sensation in my stomach. _Grrrrr…_

"Hmmm. Sound's like you're hungry," Bella patted my stomach. It only made the hunger pains worse. Another low growl let out from my stomach. "Let's get some food in you. What do you want for lunch?"

"Um… I don't know. I haven't had food in over a century. What do you recommend?" I asked her.

"I know what we should get! Get in the car, we're going to Port Angeles," she said.

"What are we getting?" I asked her.

"It's a surprise," she told me.

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**A/N: I am soooooo sooooooo sorry but I won't be able to update for a week or so. I have a lot on my plate right now. I promise the next chapter will be much longer than the ones I have been posting. Also, for those of you who have me as an alert, be it author or story, I'm sorry but I had to load this chapter again. Just for you all, I'll answer any one question about the upcoming chapters. Just PM me. Thanks again!**


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